“Endangered Forests, Endangered People: Environmentalist Representations of Indigenous”

By: J Peter Brosius

For the duration of this article, J. Peter Brosius focuses on a specific case study of the indigenous Penan community of Malaysia. He divides the group by the geographic distinctions of “East Penan” and “West Penan” in order to expose distinct differences between the environmental management practices of both communities, and delve deeper in the potential reasoning for this variation. The Eastern Penan, who are coincidentally more touched by the influence of outside environmental activists recently came to public knowledge through their strong protest against logging within their community. The question this raises is: what affect does Western influence have on natural resource management, and is that influence helpful or harmful? Brosius attempt to explain the impacts of this Western influence on the Penan communities natural resource management. Brosius claims that Western thought valorizes indigenous environmental practices in an attempt to link it to the sacred, and in turn, develop community support for the cause. Unfortunately, this tactic ultimately homogenizes and diminishes the diversity of the community for the sake of a Western narrative of environmental protection. The final note Brosius makes is that the storyteller is a key agent in the dynamic of environmental management. This is a strong final claim because it puts into perspective the main issue with the way “indigenous” stories are told, and how this often inaccurately frames natural resource management.